Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall 838, January 3rd, the southern province of the Northern Empire, the forefront of the southeast frontier fortress group, Fort Ares.

On the watchtower next to the city wall of the fortress, there is a tall gray-haired man holding the head of a Triceratops in his hand. His ferocious face and sharp horns have been magically preserved to life. The man with a scar on his face glanced at the cloudy sky, and then placed the head of the Triceratops on the window sill of the watchtower window of the city wall.

At this time, the cold wind rolled the clouds, and the sky was surging like a sea with violent cloud tides. The extremely dry icy wind condensed the moisture in the air. Anyone could see that the winter was coming and the snowstorm was coming.

But the gray-haired man didn't care about it at all. He straightened the head of the Triceratops, fixed the position, and ensured that he could clearly see the central black forest that was almost all around him outside the window. Then, the man revealed a With a formulaic smile, he raised the information terminal on his wrist and took a magical selfie with the head of the Triceratops.

[Priest released a new personal status]

[17:39, January 3, 838: On the second day in Ares Fortress, I accidentally hunted a quasi-gold-level heavy armored Triceratops. (photo attached)]

[Location: Ares Fortress in the southern province, using the second-generation professional version to explore the spiritual terminal to send]

After sending this message, the gray-haired man—that is, Priest immediately took down the head of the Triceratops placed on the window sill, and then put it into a special preservation magic bag. It can be seen that the magic will The resentment and fury of the Triceratops before death were clearly preserved, and it could be said to be full of momentum, but all this is due to magic. If the magic disappears, the head that has not been embalmed will rot.

After doing all this, Priest connected to the information terminal again.

[Britney likes your new status. 】

[Britney: My brother is amazing! 】

[Dahl likes your new status. 】

[Dahl: I have to say, friend, you are so handsome! 】

[Factory owner Rand likes your new status. 】

【…】

[Syndicate likes your new status. 】

[Rin (the administrator enjoys a purple ID) likes your new status. 】

Looking at the rapidly increasing number of comments and likes from friends under the photo, Priest couldn't help showing a nostalgic smile, especially after seeing his younger sister Britney's reply, he felt full of joy and motivation in his heart, and felt that he was still alive. Can go hunting a few more back and forth.

"Thanks to the magic net, thanks to the information terminal, thanks to the status release and message function, and thanks to the great lord."

After thanking all the above-mentioned existences sincerely in his heart, Priest stared at the gem-like information terminal on his wrist, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "It's really great, this invention."

Since Priest was invited by Joshua last year to join the Empire's Foreign Exploration Department as a student of the Winterhold Champion Academy, he had to leave his sister in Moldavia and hand it over to the academy for special arrangements. The staff and my friend Dahl are taking care of me, while I am doing all kinds of devil training and practical investigations... The separation is long, and the reunion is short, every time Priest returns to Moldavia for a short rest , will feel abnormal happiness and pain, happiness is finally able to reunite with family members, pain is about to part again, and there is no sound for several months.

In fact, this kind of pain of separation is very common on the mainland of Mycroft. Whether it is an adventurer or a mercenary, whether it is a long-distance caravan or an artist touring the mainland, they all need to go out for a long time, let alone being assigned to the frontier. , soldiers who are thousands of miles away from home...Although letters exist, communication magic exists, and even the light curtain with images is not a profound spell, but for most ordinary people, there are certain conditions For special people, these means are not available most of the time.

Priest, who has survived in various PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds all year round, was originally one of them, but recently, this pain of separation has disappeared for him, for the people of the North, or for some lucky residents of the empire!

Because of the new generation of information terminals, there are more functions called 'status release' and 'add familiar contacts'!

The information terminal is another revolutionary magic prop that came from Moldavia in the north, and was born under the guidance of the legendary lord. The initial beta version of the information terminal has a large number of special functions, such as shooting magic images, Video recording, audio recording, detection of element concentration and data query, etc. Later updates added special modules such as the academy’s internal forum and trading section—and in the past two months, due to the redevelopment of the magic net and the With the addition of the server, the new generation of information terminals has many new functions and new designs!

Every holder of an information terminal must undergo real-name authentication. After authentication, a unique personal code will be obtained. By exchanging personal codes, end users can add the function of following friends, and then get the other party's dynamics at the first time. And post a reply—that is, with the support of the magic net, you can get the ability to communicate in near real time!

The emergence of this function is almost subversive for the world of Mycroft, which has a single means of remote communication and is almost patented by extraordinary people! After confirming the reliability of the status release and private message functions, almost all the caravans in the empire, as well as the slightly richer adventure teams and mercenary groups, did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy information terminals, which were still waiting to see the emerging magic items.

Not to mention how much wealth the information terminal has brought to Moldavia and how many changes it has brought to the world, at this moment Priest is happily looking at the photos sent by his sister with the information terminal. It was a slightly crooked portrait of the two drawn with colored pencils.

There is also a line of small characters written under the portrait: There are three days before my brother returns home.

Yes, the mission of the foreign exploration team in the Black Forest has been successfully concluded, and there are still three days before Priest can return to his home in the Northland after various handover reports and inspections.

At this time, there were more than 20 replies under the status posted by Priest, and many strangers who followed the replies from friends also browsed the photos posted by the man, most of which were compliments and likes , but a small number of people made discordant voices.

[The first floor is the publisher's sister? How can such a small girl have an information terminal, and can watch bloody things like Warcraft heads? 】

[Looking at this photo, the publisher seems to have taken it on the wall of the southern fortress? It involves military buildings, it is recommended to delete - I really think that the use of information terminals needs to be standardized, and the age of users also needs to be restricted. 】

Although the number is small, it does exist. Some people are worried about the sudden proliferation of new things such as information terminals, and some people think that the rapid proliferation of information terminals will lead to the flooding of information exchanges, which will lead to some The leaked secrets are leaked to the outside world, such as military secrets, etc., so strict information release and user restrictions are required.

In this regard, Priest is actually thinking about it. After all, compared with these latecomers, as information terminals, they were the first brave ones. This kind of worry, the superior unit—that is, the Moldavian Lord's Mansion stated that "the Lord Lord thinks it is not a big problem, and His Majesty the Emperor also allows it."

The two legendary powerhouses have both spoken, so the others naturally don't need to care.

Priest ignored these overly worried replies, and returned to the walls of the Ares Fortress along the stairs. At this moment, a deep shadow descended in the sky—accompanied by a sudden increase in the wind, covering the sky. The blizzard that covered the sun poured down like a waterfall!

The cold air mass from the permafrost in the north rolled over the Hergamos Plain, and finally reached the border of the southern province, facing the humid air mass in the central Black Forest. The moist water vapor mixed with the dry and cold icy wind was one after another A violent snowfall, this blizzard can even crush the strong branches of the trees in the Black Forest, blocking the lairs of countless wild beasts and monsters, and they have to wake up and go out. Their final result is nothing more than being disturbed by the power of chaos. rushed toward the human gathering places, that is, one fortress after another,

And this is the cause of the annual "winter tide" in the south of the empire.

Seeing Blizzard, Priest, who was originally a southerner of the empire, knew that the first round of demonic waves of this year was coming soon. Dozens or even millions of crazy demonic beasts would continuously attack every nearby fortress. Among them, there are even gold and even extreme-level leaders and king beasts.

Every demon tide is a great test for the southern fortress group. At this time of year, there will be a large number of death lists. In the most difficult time, even the civilians in the fortress need to go up the city wall to resist the crazy monsters. This resulted in huge casualties, and the 'Titan Dragonfly' and 'Boros Python' they had observed before were the main force of the demon tide that caused serious losses in the past few times.

"Looking at the scale of this year's heavy snowfall, it is estimated that the central area of ​​the Black Forest will also suffer heavily..."

Looking at the distant horizon and finding that it was also gray, Priest couldn't help but whispered to himself: "Perhaps, many powerful monsters will have to wake up from hibernation, and then attack the fortress as before. "

At this time, Priest had already reached the upper and lower steps of the city wall, where the garrison of Ares Fortress was patrolling, and the soldiers standing guard heard the young man from the new department of the empire, who had a lot of authority, talking to himself— — This news should have been the last thing all the soldiers of the Demon Tide want to hear every year, because it means heavy casualties, and countless people will lose their lives.

But this time it was different. All the soldiers looked at each other, then smiled tacitly, and even started to discuss in a low voice: "Haha, the demon tide is coming!"

"This time, it's hard to say who will suffer."

"The more you come, the better, and the stronger you are, the better. Only in this way can you relieve your hatred!"

"I just lost two fingers last time, thanks to the Church of the Seven Gods' spells, otherwise I would have to retire—but unlike last time, this time, they came at the wrong time!"

Immediately, there was a cheerful atmosphere on the stairs, and even Priest couldn't help laughing.

As for the reason, it is very simple, because everyone knows that the lord of the Northland, the great creator of the information terminal, will come to Ares Fortress this evening, and many defenders are looking forward to the Black Forest. Decades of 'Big Counterattack'!

"Oh! Look at that!"

Now, it is the time for post rotation. The two garrisons are quickly handing over positions. Priest passed through the crowd, but suddenly, he heard an exclamation. It was said by a garrison who was changing guards. Shi Zheng opened his eyes wide, raised his hand, and pointed to the high place in the sky covered by the blizzard: "There, the airship!"

Immediately, many people, including Priest, raised their heads and looked into the distance against the blizzard, and they all saw the same thing. In the cloudy sky and white snow, a black-red airship broke through the clouds , is slowly descending towards Ares Fortress, on the side of the airship, the coat of arms with golden sword-holding hands shines!

That is the coat of arms of the Radcliffe family!

"That adult is here!"

"It's the airship of Lord Yan Prison!"

"It's Mr. Dean!"

Immediately, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, the garrisons who were handed over immediately became excited - no wonder they disrespected military discipline, because their chiefs, several gold-level powerhouses who commanded the Ares Fortress were also all at this time. Excitedly looking high up in the sky, Priest was even more excited when he saw the black and red airship. He even took out the information terminal and quickly took a few photos.

[17:55, January 3, 838: So excited! I saw Mr. Dean's car, it's so handsome! (photo attached)]

However, just when the garrison of Ares Fortress planned to arrange personnel to pick up the airship to land, the black and red airship stopped abruptly, and then, under the puzzled gaze of everyone, a figure Open the hatch of the airship, step on the air naturally, and walk towards the direction of the Black Forest.

The moment this figure appeared, it captured the attention of everyone in the entire fortress. His appearance made the blizzard that was already all over the sky even more violent, and the turbulent cloud collapsed, like a gray-black cloud hanging down. Like a funnel of smoke, it gathered towards the place where the figure was. For a moment, everyone could only see a cloud of dark snow mist raging in midair, like a chaotic cloud.

But soon, bright lightning flashed across the dark snow and fog. At this moment, the extremely intense light illuminated the dark world, making the Ares Fortress in the evening like daytime——and the next moment, the figure could be seen lifting up. He raised his hand, and then gently waved it down towards the snow-covered black forest below him.

Immediately, there was an incomparably clear tremor from the sky and the earth.

"Long—"

This is the sound of the earth's rock crust churning.

Accompanied by a violent shock that could be clearly sensed even in the Ares Fortress, bounded by the edge of the central Black Forest, layers of soil and rocks flew into the air under a powerful force capable of distorting time and space Then, as if weightless, large chunks of soil cracked, and the roots of the Black Forest trees could be seen solidifying them like solid rocks.

This wave of hands caused hundreds of square kilometers of Black Forest land and the roots of the trees to float into the air, and the next moment, amidst the exclamations of all the people who were watching this scene in Ares Fortress, the figures in the sky randomly made the 'hand flip' and 'press' movements.

But just such a simple small gesture caused the black forest of hundreds of square kilometers to split into thousands of small pieces in mid-air, and then turned them upside down like building blocks, with the crown facing down and the roots on top.

Immediately afterwards, this large piece of black forest fell backwards on the land where they were originally located, and was pressed into the ground by a huge force—along with countless monsters living in it.

It can be seen that there are black and red traces spreading in the soil, which are the last traces left after countless monsters were crushed in confusion.

The figure—Joshua—had no intention of taking his time and communicating with the garrison of Ares Fortress.

Now that he has come to the southern fortress and the periphery of the Black Forest, he will start to act now without any waiting or stopping.

It's hot and sunny, ask for a monthly pass.